Cannot UNC to Win8 C: Drive

[AndyCan]

I am about to start upgrading my Win7 machines to win 8. Where previously i've been able to simply \\machinename\c$ onto the C: drive of all computers in the office using the local Admin account on each computer, i've noticed i now can't do this on Windows 8. It prompts for the password but wont accept my credentials, even if i choose machinename\localadmin as the username.

 

I did an upgrade from 7 to 8 so thought it would keep the same settings in place. i Believe in order for this to work you just need to have Password Protected Sharing enabled in Advanced Sharing Settings, which is enabled.

 

Can anyone point out what is wrong here?

[free780]

Is your domain account not just a member of the local admins?

[AndyCan]

This is not in a domain environment, just a workgroup

[Arthur]

Setting the following registry value will enable you to access administrative shares in a workgroup environment. Reboot and then try connecting again.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy"=dword:00000001

 

or

 

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

 

More info here...

 

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942817
  
• http://helgeklein.com/blog/2011/08/access-denied-trying-to-connect-to-administrative-shares-on-windows-7
  

[AndyCan]

Thanks, although can i ask, is this a change in Windows 8 because this worked without having to do the above in Windows 7 and i even did a in place upgrade from 7 to 8.1?

[Arthur]

is this a change in Windows 8

No.

 

this worked without having to do the above in Windows 7

Did you disable UAC? That would explain why you didn't have to make the change mentioned above previously, but you do now.

[free780]

I take it they all have the same password?

The administrator account isn't disabled or locked out? Have you tried \\ip\c$ ?

[AndyCan]

UAC was disabled in windows 7 yes, and until just now UAC was enabled on Windows 8, however i disabled UAC and it still doesnt work like it used to.

 

And yes all computers have the same local admin and password account setup. The account is fine, i can log on using that account no problem and i can \\machinename\c$ to all my Windows 7 machines fine, even do it from Windows 8 to a Windows 7 machine, just not to Windows 8 machine.

 

Using the IP doesnt change anything, i can connect to the machine fine, it just wont let me access c$ unless i explicitly share the C drive. If i just do \\machinename it shows me all the default shares available, which currently is just the 'Users' folder.

[Arthur]

Windows 8.x needs UAC enabled for Metro apps to work. Therefore it would be better to keep UAC enabled and then set that registry value above.

[MatthewL]

Do you have the local firewall on this PC as it will stop it unless there is exceptions in place for file & print sharing.

[AndyCan]

the registry key above did it, thanks! I see its disabled by default in Win 8 though compared to 7